Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Consider this a heads up in case anyone is considering pursuing an online degree... Do not think that it will be a free ride; it will be more demanding and at a much faster pace than a normal degree program. As a full time student at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh - Online Division, I am enrolled in two classes at a time and each lasts for six weeks.

The course work is not hard (yet any way) and that really does not come as much of a surprise because I am in the beginner type classes: Transitional English and Success for Online Studies; it is very time consuming though.

I am required to read between six and eight chapters a week in English, and two complete sections of the book for Success for Online Learning. I am also required to complete three or four written assignments each week for each class with assignments due every day or two. In addition, participation is a large part of the grades so I have to read and make intelligent remarks about other students work in each assignment (I agree or disagree & why, point out spelling, capitalization & grammatical errors as well as offer suggestions on how to improve the work).

I am spending five hours a day on average doing the course work. I hope that over time I will improve my time management skills and stop allowing myself to be distracted which should ultimately result in me not have to spend so much time on it.